Last night after dinner (which in addition to Icelandic lamb, consisted of delicious cream of cauliflower soup and hearty bread. Yum!), we walked around Akureyri. This city of 17,000 (second largest in Iceland) is one of the sunniest and warmest places on the island… despite being on the northern part of the island and very near the Arctic Circle. This is one of the brightly painted corrugated metal buildings along the pedestrian shopping street.
Here is the Akureyrikirkja (Akureyri church), which is a beloved landmark.
Inside, it contains a stained glass window which was rescued from Coventry, England just before the bombing during WWII. Somehow, it made its way here to Iceland. As is a tradition in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, model ships are hung in the churches to protect the parish’s fishermen.
Matt went out just after midnight and took a picture of the sun attempting to set…
The goal for today was to make it to Reykjavik. No small task as it is 385 km from Akureyri. The way we drive… making Matt pull over every several minutes to take pictures, and taking detours right and left… it would take us 36 hours. Sooo, after a few parting pictures of Akureyri, we were off.
We wound back down this beautiful valley
And decided to take a detour (what, us? A detour?). Oh, but this one was well worth it (when hasn’t it been?). We stopped at Glaumbaer where there is a turf house museum. We have seen them all over and wanted to know what they were like inside.
But first… on the outside, the sod was laid between the rooms and corridors at different angles to improve stability and insulation.
Parts of this turf house date back to the eighteenth century and it was in use until the 1900s. More than 30 people lived here at a time. There is one long corridor off which all 15 of the rooms connect.
With the exception of the two “guest rooms” and the master bedroom, all beds were in one room, lining the walls. They slept two per bed.
This is the “back” of the turf house
These flowers were sitting outside one of the 19th century timber houses
I add this picture because I loved this church next door
And… I am adding this one as we saw Icelandic flags flying everywhere today.
After this detour, we got serious and high-tailed it to Reykjavik. I gave our fearless driver (that would be Matt) a rest. Matt, who has driven in and out of fjords, who finds a way to pull over immediately and without question each time I yelled “STOP” because I want to take a picture, and has managed to get us around the island without hitting a single bird or sheep… although there were a few close calls… But I digress. ANYWAY… Matt needed a nap, so I became chauffeur. As a result, no pictures the rest of the way to Reykjavik.
But never fear… the day was not yet complete. We arrived in Reykjavik and checked into our hotel which is right downtown. We heard about a Viking restaurant in a neighboring town of Hafnarfjordur, the only one in the country, so we set off for some good, rousing Viking fun. When we arrived we discovered… it was the Viking Solstice Festival, held every two years in June. So we wandered around the market stalls. I KNEW I should have brought my Viking costume! See, next time I’m not packing so light! (hahahaha). It was like the Icelandic version of a Renaissance fair or Shakespearean Festival.
We attempted to eat at the Viking restaurant… but not surprisingly, it was all booked up. Too bad, it looked like it would have been a good time… long tables, big fires, etc. Maybe next time. We did, though, enjoy some live music. These people were not only passionate about what they were doing… they were also really good!
